Pretty sure one of our Arena players is using assistance

[fr13day]

I can't know, of course. And I would take their word for it if they'd say they aren't using assistance in building words. But they haven't responded to my asking if they're using assistance, or ever otherwise chatted. And of course many people have strong word-game skills and learn Hardback quickly. But the *rate* at which this player has improved--makes me suspicious. As does the speed of their word-building. And leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

[Mogri]

I'm curious - in your assessment, how much does this improve the player's performance? Hardback seems like one of the word games that would benefit least from a solver: so much of the skill is in deck construction.

(Which isn't to excuse what this player is doing, of course - it's obvious that external tools give you an undue advantage, all else being equal.)

[ufm]

Deckbuilding and wordbuilding complement each other.
Players craft valid words to utilize the deck and buy cards to make words valuable.
Solver completely eliminates word game portion of Hardback, thus giving humongous advantage.
Think about Scrabble: solver users cannot overwhelm top tier players who can manage both word creation and tile/space control, but they trample most players easily.

[JackHH]

I've seen numerous cases of cheating unfold on a similar website over the past 11 years.

I can't know, of course. And I would take their word for it if they'd say they aren't using assistance in building words.

This is very fair, and you've behaved correctly not to name the user directly

But the *rate* at which this player has improved--makes me suspicious.

Are you able to elaborate on this? Are you just going by their rating (which could legitimately rocket if they start of a strong player and just play lots of games and keep winning)? Did they go from not being able to spot a 5 from APLMS, to easily always spotting 9+ length words?

As does the speed of their word-building.

Too fast or too slow? I am not sure you can read into speed very much here. An elite level word game player will easily spot big words from their rack in < 2 seconds sometimes, so their spots will appear instant. Likewise somebody whose really nailed their system for using the solver can be getting words in very quickly too.

On the flip side, you might have somebody who's a bit slower to spot the words but still has the spotting power or a person who uses a solver, but with a bit of faff and ends up slow.

If they are very quick, a good test (if they engage with you) is to set them some conundrums in the chat which you'd expect them to easily solve quite quickly. e.g. AEIOTLRNS

And leaves a sour taste in my mouth.

I feel your sympathy. 99/100 times the best course of action is to just avoid playing the player.

[ufm]

But the *rate* at which this player has improved--makes me suspicious.

Are you able to elaborate on this? Are you just going by their rating (which could legitimately rocket if they start of a strong player and just play lots of games and keep winning)? Did they go from not being able to spot a 5 from APLMS, to easily always spotting 9+ length words?

Maybe the latter?

As does the speed of their word-building.

Too fast or too slow? I am not sure you can read into speed very much here. An elite level word game player will easily spot big words from their rack in < 2 seconds sometimes, so their spots will appear instant. Likewise somebody whose really nailed their system for using the solver can be getting words in very quickly too.

On the flip side, you might have somebody who's a bit slower to spot the words but still has the spotting power or a person who uses a solver, but with a bit of faff and ends up slow.

If they are very quick, a good test (if they engage with you) is to set them some conundrums in the chat which you'd expect them to easily solve quite quickly. e.g. AEIOTLRNS

Probably 'too fast'. Time control system is well established in BGA.
Solver users have no in-game merit for delaying word submissions intentionally, but only will risk game forfeits needlessly.
Also, strong players tend to ponder on all options the player can come up with, thus consuming significantly more time than solver users.
Especially when wilds, ink removers, doublers, and/or uncoverers are in play.

There is already a similar post on Letter Tycoon forum too: viewtopic.php?f=320&t=19474

[fr13day]

I'm no longer as confident that they're cheating, so I'm not going to elaborate. (And perhaps I'd delete the post if I were able)